Morrow's Horizon (The Morrow Women Series Book 1)

by Sierra Kummings

  Jacob brought her focus back to him again, as he continued his speech unaware of her worries. “Yes, we might have to close our Santa Barbara branch, but that’s the only one we’re thinking about closing. I promise this won’t affect the rest of you. Everyone will be notified once a decision is made.”

  Despite the confidence of his claim, he still had to field off question after question as one branch manager after another voiced their worries to him. Would people be fired? Would it happen before or right after the holidays? Would those who were let go be taken care of?

  Sara knew she should care about those things too, but she couldn’t think past her own personal issues. She’d taken a chance and called his assistant to let her know to look for his things on Monday morning since tomorrow was Saturday. The woman had agreed to make arrangements with security and strangely hadn’t made any inquiries into who Sara was at all other than asking for her first name. The lack of concern made Sara even more nervous.

  She had Jacob’s wallet and he was the CFO of a bank. What if he had confidential information inside? Sure, no employee was supposed to carry that kind of information on them, but still, people did it all the time. Shouldn’t she have at least been asked more than just her first name?

  “I can’t promise you that.” Jacob’s voice lost some of the conciliatory tone it’d had earlier, and she tried once again to pay attention as he said, “You’re asking for reassurances I simply can’t give. We’re a bank. I can’t guarantee people won’t lose their jobs. We have to fire people more frequently than I’d like. Case in point, I found out this morning that I’m going to have to let an employee go who up to now has had a stellar record.”

  What?

  Sara’s breath came out in a whoosh.

  Jacob hadn’t notified her yet, but she’d bet her entire year’s paycheck that the person he had to let go was her. It’d be too much of a coincidence for it to be anyone else. Their bank employed at most four hundred people. How he’d found out she worked for him was anyone’s guess, but… Oh, shit.

  Sara stared in horror at the phone. She’d called his assistant from the branch’s landline. Caller ID would’ve said clear as day what location she worked at, and seeing as how she was the only Sara on staff—

  “Okay, that’s all the time I have for now.” Jacob interrupted her panic attack and induced another. “30th street. I haven’t heard from you yet. Do you have any questions before we end the call?”

  “Um…” At a loss of what to do, Sara attempted to deepen her voice, hoping he wouldn’t realize she wasn’t Harrison and fire her on the spot. If her termination didn’t happen until Harrison returned, maybe she still had a chance to change things. “We’re all good here. No questions from us. Thanks for explaining things. I…”

  Oh, dear God stop talking already!

  3

  Sara? Jacob ended the conference call and hung up before he could make an ass of himself by asking the question aloud. Of course that hadn’t been Sara. And if he’d seriously thought it had been, then he needed to get a better check on reality. How the hell could the woman on the phone be the same woman he’d met earlier?

  She couldn’t be, pure and simple.

  But the cadence of her voice… The busty brunette from the café had rambled in the exact same way. Jacob leaned back in his desk chair and looked around his office as if he expected her to materialize there.

  Stop thinking about her, cabrón. Nothing good could come of it and his day had already started out as one he’d like to forget.

  Who was he kidding? His day? More like his day, his night, his entire last month—all of them could go to Hell as far as he was concerned.

  After fighting too many demons last night, he’d said fuck it and dressed for the day at two in the morning. He’d hopped in his jeep afterward and driven for hours, stopping at an unfamiliar café for a coffee when the urge for sleep had settled in.

  He couldn’t explain why spending time with the woman he’d met there had mattered so much to him—he had Elise, and he sure wasn’t looking for a side-piece—but after living in darkness for so long, Sara had captured his attention. He didn’t just remember her name; he remembered everything about her. Her words. Her laugh. Her smile. She exuded this natural light that felt foreign to him. Even though she’d clearly been having a bad day too, she’d found a reason to smile, and when she did? The whole damn parking lot had lit up brighter than if a grenade had exploded.

  And hell if he hadn’t been drawn to that. He needed a bit of light to counteract the darkness in him.

  Aí. Who was he kidding? He needed a hell of a lot more than a bit. He’d damn near wanted to bathe in it. Sex hadn’t even entered his mind. She’d spoken to somewhere inside of him he hadn’t known existed as if she’d called to his soul. At this time of year, he found little to smile about, yet he’d actually laughed with her. And he’d wanted to keep laughing.

  He’d used the excuse of giving her his coat, mainly to find out if she was real.

  He still didn’t know what to make of the fact that she had been real. His nightmares had a way of mixing with his days. Until she’d driven off with his things and he’d realized he no longer had his wallet, he’d thought she’d somehow been a figment of his imagination.

  He almost wished she had been.

  He’d had no right to seek out more time with Sara. He was alive when he should’ve been dead. While the true heroes came home in boxes, he’d come home to a nice cushy job as corporate financial officer at his family’s bank. How could he justify that? He hadn’t cared about his family’s legacy, even long before his life had become something he hated.

  Yes, but it’s a means to an end.

  That it was.

  Jacob had accepted the position to ensure he could continue to take care of his men in the only way left to him now. But knowing he used it as such didn’t ease his guilt.

  “Do you have a minute?” Brian Smithsfield’s voice came through over the phone’s intercom, interrupting the thoughts that never seemed to leave his son’s mind. “Can we meet in your office?”

  Jacob stifled a groan at the request. He wanted nothing more than to say no, but instead said, “Sure, Dad. Come on in.” What could the man possibly have to say that couldn’t be said over the phone?

  They worked in the same office building three days out of the week, but they rarely spent time together. Most correspondences were communicated via email or conference calls and Jacob preferred it that way. Brian had never been more than an unhappy figure in his life growing up. The two of them hadn’t bonded or played sports. There’d been no father/son camping trips. In fact, the relationship Jacob had with his father was much like the one Jacob had with his mother. Neither one of his parents inspired a feeling of love. He saw his mom once a month when he took her out to lunch and he preferred to see his dad just as infrequently.

  But today, for some reason, his father wanted an audience with him.

  Face to face.

  Jacob stifled another groan.

  A brief knock at the door preceded Brian coming into the room. “Thanks for handling the call today.”

  “Um, no problem?” Why was his father thanking him? That was their arrangement. Jacob didn’t like the spotlight any more than Brian Smithsfield did, but he handled it better so the task naturally fell to him. He’d never received a thank you for it in the entire time he’d worked for the bank.

  As if his father’s behavior wasn’t strange enough, nervous energy seemed to accompany the man as he came further into the room. He walked over to the window that overlooked downtown San Diego, saying nothing more as he stared forlornly out at the city.

  Unable to stop himself, Jacob groaned at that. Only one thing made his father get that lost look in his eyes. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

  “I’m not ready to shut down the Santa Barbara branch yet.”

  Yep. Just what Jacob had suspected. The man had stalled on that action for the last two y
ears. “We’ve spoken about this. Mrs. Everett and her sons are getting antsy with the way things are.” And Jacob was too.

  Brian waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “I’m not concerned about Mrs. Everett.”

  You should be. Jacob kept that comment to himself. If his father didn’t understand the implications of displeasing a shareholder that held a fifty percent stake in their company, Jacob would never be able to get through to him.

  Still, though, he had to try.

  He opted for a different tactic. “It’s not your fault, Dad. We all know that. Business was booming when you bought up Ortiz Trust.” Half of that was true at least. Business had been booming. But bidding on another small bank two hundred miles outside of BCF’s footprint hadn’t just been a risky decision, it’d been a poor business move. If not for Mrs. Everett’s greed to see more income in her yearly dividends, and the company being without an official CFO at the time, the transaction would have never taken place. Jacob certainly wouldn’t have approved it had he been in a position to have any say.

  Within five years of the purchase, they’d had to close four of the eight branches they’d acquired because those locations didn’t bring in enough profit to pay for their overhead. BCF was too small time to have made a name for itself up in Santa Barbara prior to that, and Ortiz’s employees had practiced shady business dealings to try to stop themselves from going under. By the time BCF took over, no one trusted the new bank in town.

  The last four branches had held on for four more years, but now they were down to one, and it made absolutely no sense to keep it open, at least not to someone who could look at the situation objectively.

  As CEO, his father should have been able to do that, yet here they were having the same conversation again.

  Brian moved from the window and lumbered over to the duo of plush armchairs that faced Jacob’s desk. “What if we tried something else?” His girth spilled out the sides as he settled his portly frame into one and looked toward Jacob expectantly.

  His father’s build had always been stocky, but in the last two decades he’d seemed to eat his dissatisfaction with life away. The bank would kill him if he wasn’t careful.

  And the man would kill the bank too if Jacob didn’t do something to prevent it. “We can’t—”

  “I have an idea—”

  Jacob bit back his frustration and spoke with a calmness he didn’t feel. “The lease is up in June. If we don’t start the process now to have it shut down, it will never happen in time and the fees we’ll have to pay to break a new lease will leave us in a deficit next year. Dad, you know this.” The man was letting emotions get in the way. He had more of a head for numbers than Jacob did. He could take one glance at any given month’s spreadsheet and give an annual projection of sales, but his past history blinded him in this situation. “Grandmother is dead. You don’t have to prove anything anymore.”

  “I’M NOT…!” As if shocked that he’d yelled, Brian’s eyes widened. He tugged at the knot in his tie and cleared his throat in the repeated reflexive habit he did when uncomfortable. “T-this isn’t about me proving anything. A new opportunity has presented itself and I’d like a chance to see how it plays out before we make our final decision.”

  A new opportunity.

  Jacob fought not to roll his eyes.

  What new opportunity could make keeping that branch open seem viable? BCF would have to triple its number of locations to even attempt to mildly saturate the market in an area as large as the distance from San Diego to Santa Barbara. As it stood now, with only thirty branches, they fought to keep their stronghold on the seventy-five miles between San Diego and Laguna. “We don’t have the capital to buy out another bank to acquire more branches.”

  “I don’t want to buy—This isn’t about our capital—” Yet instead of explaining, his father sighed. “Just give me time.”

  “How much time?”

  “I don’t know. A few weeks? A month?” He sighed again then pushed himself out of the chair to return to the window.

  Jacob liked the view from the 30th floor office too, but what the hell did the man see that was so fascinating? They’d lived near palm trees and the beach Jacob’s entire life.

  While still looking out the window, his father asked him, “Why are you still here?”

  Jacob wondered the same thing about the old man. This was the most time the two of them had spent in the same room together since they’d had their awkward Thanksgiving dinner. “Where else would I be?”

  “At your house. Isn’t Elise there now?”

  Jacob rolled his shoulders trying to release the cramp in his muscles that doubled at the mention of his girlfriend’s whereabouts. “How’d you find out? Did Vanessa tell you?” The woman who worked as an assistant to both of BCF’s executives usually had enough sense not to divulge their personal information to anyone, even if it was only to the other.

  “I-I think Sorenson mentioned something of the sorts.”

  Ah, the fraternity of old men. It was a shame neither of them had thought to warn Jacob. His father’s friend just so happened to be the father of Jacob’s girlfriend.

  Well, girlfriend might be stretching it a bit.

  Elise and Jacob were more like fuck buddies with exclusive rights. Neither wanted more out of their relationship than to have a person on their arm while they attended functions and who they could also have an amazing time in bed with.

  Or neither of them had seemed to want more than that until today at least.

  Elise’s phone call that morning had started out weird and gotten weirder.

  First, she’d questioned him about whether he cared about her, which of course he did. Maybe not in the traditional boyfriend/girlfriend way, but he did care about her. What he didn’t care about was the surprise seven-day visit she’d sprung on him or the fact that she’d decided she would stay at his house while in town. He wouldn’t have been excited about that at any time, but during the month of December it damn near terrified him.

  Jacob glanced at his father who still stood by the window. His hair had become the salt-and-pepper gray that made most men look dignified. Brian Smithsfield just looked tired of living.

  Jacob knew the feeling.

  “I had Vanessa transfer your meetings over to me,” Brian said. “Why don’t you take off? Take a vacation day for once. Spoil your girlfriend.”

  Since when did Jacob’s father volunteer to take over meetings? Or pay attention to his son’s life enough to notice he never went on vacation? “I appreciate the gesture, but Elise and I don’t have plans to meet up until later.” And later was far too soon for Jacob’s taste.

  This wouldn’t be the first time they’d slept under the same roof, but it still scared the shit out of him all the same. He’d never let a woman spend the night other than her, and her freedom only came about due to the logistics of them living in separate towns. Thankfully, she agreed to stay in one of his guest rooms—though if she hadn’t, they wouldn’t have lasted past her first visit.

  He doubted they’d make it much past this one.

  His father, in all his ignorance, apparently disagreed. “I think she’s good for you. Elise that is.”

  Jacob glanced out into the hallway, half expecting to see a camera crew and Ashton Kutcher standing there. When had Brian Smithsfield become an expert on relationships? The man had been divorced from Jacob’s mother for almost thirty years, and to the best of Jacob’s knowledge he’d hadn’t so much as dated a woman since. “Sorry to disappoint you, but the two of us aren’t serious.” The very idea was laughable—the kind of laughter born from terror.

  “Why aren’t you serious? She’s quite a catch, Jacob.”

  “She has money, Dad. And she’s attractive. Beyond that what do you know about her?”

  “I know her father. What more do I need to know?”

  “Is that what this is about? You’re afraid if her and I don’t last, your friendship will suffer?”

  “Her fa
ther is an asset as a friend. Elise could be an asset for you too if you let her.”

  That would be the day. Jacob would have to let a woman closer than he felt comfortable with for that to happen. “Thanks for caring, Dad, but I’m not really in the market for something like that.”

  Thinking that would be the end of their discussion, Jacob picked up the report he’d been looking at prior to the conference call earlier. He hated having to let an employee go over an error, but she’d cashed a fraudulent check and cost the company two thousand dollars. It had to be done.

  Instead of leaving, his father spoke again. “Maybe it’s time things changed.”

  “Maybe it’s time what changed?” They couldn’t change bank policy just because they liked the employee.

  “You and Elise. Maybe you should consider something more long term between the two of you.”

  Jacob put down the report to stare in disbelief at his father. The man couldn’t actually be suggesting… “Long term as in marriage?” At his father’s nod, Jacob’s laugh rang hollow. Their unusual conversation was now starting to make sense. “Please tell me this isn’t your idea of a new opportunity.” Jacob’s grandparents had married for the bank and the influx of cash from his grandmother’s estate had doubled BCF’s properties, but that’d been over sixty years ago. Jacob wouldn’t consider marriage for love let alone a business merger. His father had to know that.

  “Elise is—”

  Jesucristo. The man had actually thought it’d been a possibility. “Was this your plan from the beginning?” His father never had birthday parties, yet six months ago he’d invited Jacob to a small dinner with his best friend and the man’s daughter.